Mod Developer Question - UI Icon for Multi Units

[webbie33]

I've been playing with modding for the past 6 months and recently posted two repaints of EMD GP units. As part of the pack, I configured them to include muti-units (2 GP engines back to back), but I noticed the game uses the UI icon for the single unit and simply flips it for the 2nd unit. As such, all lettering on 2nd unit is backwards in the purchase window.

Question: Is there a way to make a separate icon specifically for the multi-unit version so that it appears correctly in the purchase window?

[Thork]

I don't currently have an answer to your question, but am about to look deeper into unit icons myself, because some recently added vehicle mods only display a "bluish square" for an icon, which I'd like to fix. (No texture cache/compression used.)
I'd guess that handling/generation of UI icons was changed with when UI-scaling was added.
As said, I have not looked into it yet, but would be thankful if someone could tell me how exactly the process works, and what files/formats are accepted/used.

I'd also love to see flipped engines as a vanilla option, but am not sure about how simple/realistic that would be...

[webbie33]

Originally posted by Thork:

I don't currently have an answer to your question, but am about to look deeper into unit icons myself, because some recently added vehicle mods only display a "bluish square" for an icon, which I'd like to fix. (No texture cache/compression used.)
I'd guess that handling/generation of UI icons was changed with when UI-scaling was added.
As said, I have not looked into it yet, but would be thankful if someone could tell me how exactly the process works, and what files/formats are accepted/used.

I'd also love to see flipped engines as a vanilla option, but am not sure about how simple/realistic that would be...

I've seen the same issue you mention (UI icons missing or corrupt) with a couple vehicle mods. The one that comes to mind is one of the double decker bus mods. I mentioned to author, but haven't noticed it being fixed.

The UI icons can be generated through the TF Model Viewer. It's a tool available from Transport Fever's .com site for testing mods. The tool has a Screenshot option which generates various website type views as well as the UI icons with one button press.

To generate UI icons for a mod...

1. Open Model Viewer
2. Browse to the mod directory and to the model (.mdl) location.
3. Click on the model file.
4. Click open. Give it time to load the model.
5. Click "Screenshot". Note that you don't need to position the model beforehand. Also, watch the black command window to look for activity. When finished, the model will be displayed differently as if in a 3D posed position.

The screen shots and UI icons will be stored under
/Program Files (x86)/Steam/steamapps/common/Transport Fever/model_viewer/screenshots/

There you will see two folders:
gui_icons = UI icons in .tga format.
website = JPEG screen shots

There are two sets of GUI icons: models_20 and models_small. Copy the .tga file for each to the corresponding directories for your mod.

[killakanz]

It's doing that because you're using the same vehicle, reversed in the multiple unit config. If you look in your icons folder, you probably only have 1 in there. So the game is just mirroring it for the multiple unit menu.
The multiple unit as a whole doesn't have it's own icon. Each vehicle has an icon and the game kinda blends them together for the menu.

If you dont want the icon mirrored, you'll need to make the rear facing one a separate vehicle.

[Thork]

Thx for the info, webster.
I'm currently too engaged in my game, but will try shortly.
The mods probably used their own picture source, that's why I was asking what is acceptable, but I will do as you propose to try fix it.
As said, I believe this is probably something UG(/modmakers) should look into.

[webbie33]

Originally posted by killakanz:

The multiple unit as a whole doesn't have it's own icon. Each vehicle has an icon and the game kinda blends them together for the menu.

@killakanz - That's pretty much what I was afraid of, but couldn't hurt to ask. Was hoping there was a simple fix that I overlooked.

[webbie33]

Originally posted by Thork:

Thx for the info, webster.
I'm currently too engaged in my game, but will try shortly.
The mods probably used their own picture source, that's why I was asking what is acceptable, but I will do as you propose to try fix it.
As said, I believe this is probably something UG(/modmakers) should look into.

@Thork - Follow up to my previous response,... I created a Guide for Model Viewer which can be found here...
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1229955807
It explains how to generate the UI icons.

[Thork]

Nice ;)
I still have not come around to do it. It's really only a few that are not working correctly.
Will also use the opportunity to finally create my logo.
I'm more into gameplay than flavour, but sometimes it gets me...